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Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Teams Meeting

Contact: Karen Strahan 01392 382264  Email: karen.strahan@devon.gov.uk

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Items
Note No. Item

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14.

Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021

Decision:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021 be signed as a correct record.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2021 be signed as a correct record.

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15.

Items Requiring Urgent Attention

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

16.

Pay Policy Statement 2022/2023 pdf icon PDF 165 KB

Report of the County Solicitor, Chief Officer for Legal and Head of Human Resources containing and outlining the Pay Policy Statement for 2022/2023 for recommendation to Council, attached.

Decision:

RESOLVED

 

(a) that the proposed amendments to the Pay Policy Statement be endorsed and the revised Statement for 2022/23 be commended to the Council;

 

(b) that the change to leadership roles and salary rates, which may be impacted by any national pay award, be noted; and

 

(c) that delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to make amendments to the Pay Policy Statement resultant from consequential changes to role descriptions following the consultation process as well as forthcoming Leadership appointments.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Joint Report of the County Solicitor (Head of Legal (Intrim)) and Head of Human Resources outlining the proposed and revised Pay Policy Statement for 2022/2023 and consequential amendments to the Chief Officer Employment Procedure Rules and Disciplinary Policy, for ratification by the County Council.

 

The Pay Policy Statement, required under the Localism Act 2011, formed part of the Constitution of the Council. It was a statutory requirement of the Pay Policy Statement that the Statement should be reviewed at least annually. The Pay Policy Statement specified that salaries for Chief Officers and Heads of Service on Leadership Grades were fixed for the duration of the Policy and would be reviewed annually by the Appointments, Remuneration and Chief Officer Conduct Committee.

 

The draft Pay Policy Statement continued to reflect a potential future review of terms and conditions and the Authority’s wider reward strategy, particularly the pay and grading implications of the National Living Wage, and other issues such as recruitment and retention and the changing nature of work and roles within the Authority. A review of NJC and Chief Officer Annual Leave Entitlement was conducted in 2021 and full implementation would be completed in April 2022.

 

Appendix 2 set out the current senior management roles and salary levels. This appendix, alongside the Pay Policy Statement, reflected the current senior management structure and as and when changes took effect, the Policy would be updated to reflect these, for example, decisions made regarding the replacement of the County Solicitor.

 

The trade unions and the national employers were continuing to discuss the pay award for 2021/22 and of course any national pay awards, and the change to the Authority’s wider reward strategy would have a financial impact, but the exact details were not known at this stage.

 

Members discussed and asked questions on the current position with pay negotiations, the role of national pay bargaining, the use of more Council policies to attract workers and working with Team Devon to look at salary competitiveness across the region.

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Hart, SECONDED by Councillor McInnes, and

 

RESOLVED

 

(a) that the proposed amendments to the Pay Policy Statement be endorsed and the revised Statement for 2022/23 be commended to the Council;

 

(b) that the change to leadership roles and salary rates, which may be impacted by any national pay award, be noted; and

 

(c) that delegated authority be given to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Leader of the Council to make amendments to the Pay Policy Statement resultant from consequential changes to role descriptions following the consultation process as well as forthcoming Leadership appointments.

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17.

Leadership Group - Proposals for New Leadership Arrangements pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Report of the Chief Executive (SO/21/2) outlining Proposals for New Leadership Arrangements in Devon County Council, attached.

Decision:

RESOLVED

 

(a) that the proposed re-configuration of Council services and the changes to the leadership of services be noted;

 

(b) that a period of consultation about the proposals for the new strategic level Leadership Team be agreed, noting:

 

(i) that the revised leadership team and leadership arrangements will supersede the current LG8/LG14 arrangements and will require new reporting arrangements for some LG14 members.

 

(ii) that the proposals will bring an end to the interim structural and reporting arrangements, some of which will have been in place since January 2021 pending the Council elections in May 2021.

 

(c) delegate authority to the Chief Executive to make the final decision on the structural proposals following consideration of consultation feedback; and

 

(d) that the commencement of the recruitment process for a new Chief Officer Integrated Adult Care be approved, given there are no changes proposed to the post.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Report of the Chief Executive (SO/21/2) outlining proposals for new Leadership Arrangements.

 

The Committee noted that there had not been an opportunity to make significant changes in respect of the configuration and leadership of Council services for a number of years, however the planned retirement of a number of Heads of Service and Chief Officers in a six month timeframe provided the opportunity to review the configuration of services and make some proposals for changes.

 

The impact of the Global Pandemic on the working of the Council had been profound and it now faced a prolonged period of adjustment, as coexisting with the virus and recovery from some of the longer-term changes, for example exit from the EU, the cost of living, labour and property markets and key sectors of the economy such as hospitality and retail as well as the need to respond to the Climate Emergency.

 

These leadership proposals gave the opportunity to reshape the Council’s officer leadership, and the way that leadership operated, drawing on changed working practices and the priorities expressed in the new strategic plan.

 

A key principle behind the proposed changes was to simplify and clarify the leadership roles and responsibilities.

 

Services areas would be called:

 

·         Children and Young People’s Futures

·         Integrated Adult Care

·         Finance and Public Value

·         Public Health, Communities and Citizen Engagement

·         Climate Change, Environment, Connectivity and Growth.

·         Transformation and Resources

·         Legal and Democratic Services

 

To go alongside the new service structures, the proposed changes would result in a reduction in one post and a much smaller leadership team. The new strategic leadership team was proposed to consist of 6 roles reporting to the Chief Executive. These would be:

 

·         Director of Climate Change, Environment, Connectivity and Growth

·         Director of Public Health, Communities and Citizen Engagement

·         Director of Transformation and Resources

·         Director of Integrated Adult Care

·         Director of Children and Young People’s Futures

·         Director of Finance and Public Value

 

There would be a Deputy Director post for Legal and Democratic Services (which would also fulfil the Monitoring Officer, Proper Officer and Returning Officer functions) which would report directly to the Chief Executive, in line with the desire for all statutory posts to do so.

 

Once the new strategic leadership team was in place, a new ‘tactical’ tier of leadership would be formed which would include existing deputies, Heads of other services and leadership representatives from across the full range of Council Services.

 

This tactical tier would enable the Strategic Leadership Team to focus on the strategic business and provide organisation-wide leadership and coordination to deliver against the strategic plan priorities. It was also envisaged that each Director would hold strategic responsibility for one of the Strategic Plan priorities.

 

It was proposed that the consultation period would commence in mid February for a three week period. Following this decisions would be made and the revised leadership structure confirmed. New posts subject to external recruitment would be advertised, and any other recruitment processes needed would take place.

 

The Chief Executive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.


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